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Leofric
Early Life Kallavesa Leofric was born in Skymark, and spent his early years as one of three siblings, living on a large farm. Young Leofric gained a reputation for pestering passing stormcrows with questions about the rest of the Mark, and for foregoing playfighting with his siblings in favour of exploring his surroundings. In 370YE, when news of an approaching Jotun invasion reached the farm, Leofric's family abandoned their home and traveled south, spending several months taking refuge in Rundhal. During this time, Leofric busied himself by volunteering in a chapel. With the Jotun invasion repelled, Leofric asked to stay in Rundhal, rather than return to his family farm, where he knew he would be a burden on scarce food resources, while the farm was reestablished. Rundhal As years rolled by, Leofric learned from the crows in the city, and dedicated himself to Courage, before gathering a small congregation of his own, in a nearby village. Adult Life Attending Anvil Winter Solstice - 381YE - Seeking to expand his horizons, and to better himself for his congregation, Leofric attended Anvil. During his time in Anvil, he found that the subtleties of the Synod were lost on him. Alternate interpretations of The Way that he encountered ranged from confusing to seeming to be outright unvirtuous. Sensing that only trouble could come of spending too long around the Synod, he instead sought alternative ways to expand his horizons in Anvil. Leofric's soon found the members of Sigehold, where he found friendly discussions, offers of food, and a good drinking buddy in Faolan. Having heard stories of the troubles in Spiral, both within Sigehold and around Anvil. Leofric headed home and encouraged his congregation to take up arms and join him in assisting the Empire, by marching south. Leofric and his newly formed military unit would experience many horrors in Spiral, under the influence of the newly awoken Black Plateau. Spring Equinox - 382 - Shaken by what he had seen in Spiral, Leofric weighed up carefully whether he was of sound enough mind to even attend Anvil again. Ultimately, he elected to attend, if only to see friendly faces again, and to return to some sense of normality. Leofric's second visit to Anvil was as productive as it was chaotic. Having arrived unarmed, with no desire to handle a weapon after what he had seen, he volunteered to investigate a tomb with a group of friendly freeborn. As thanks, Leofric was advised to spend some time meditating in the Solace of Chimes, to settle his mind, and better accept the horrors he had seen in Spiral. Feeling more positive, Leofric was then presented with an opportunity to attend a skirmish which was in need of capable fighters. Seeing that declining to assist would be unvirtuous, he sought to calm his nerves with a dose of Bite. In acquiring a dose, he was struck with inspiration, that perhaps the use of mood-altering substances might enable a priest such as himself to better understand The Way. After a brief consult with Mariit, Leofric entered the skirmish having been enhanced by a dose of bite. Finding little inspiration, but a lot of Courage, Leofric fought through considerable injury, and, being defended by Faolan at least once, survived the skirmish. With renewed confidence, Leofric took from his visit to Anvil that in order to grow as a person, he must face his fears, and do what is best for the Empire. Accordingly, he marched back to Spiral, to finish the job he had started. Summer Solistice - 382 '- After having spent close to 6 months in Spiral, with only brief visits to Anvil and Sigehold to rest, Leofric returned to Anvil for the third time scarred deeply by his experiences, and found himself struggling to contain his emotions. After warming up sparring in Anvil, Leofric headed directly for a Wintermark skirmish against the Jotun. During the skirmish, rage took hold of Leofric, and he began to fight without discipline. When a Jotun ridiculed Leofric after being offered the choice of a clean death or healing, Leofric murdered the Jotun in a rage. After the skirmish, a wounded Leofric was severely reprimanded by Warcrow, and accompanied back to the Sigehold camp by Faolan. The following day, Leofric marched to battle with Wintermark, and was saved from near death by Elsa. After narrowly escaping with the Wintermark army, Leofric, along with the rest of Sigehold, began to realise that Faolan had not returned from battle. Distraught, Leofric spoke of Faolan in the Wintermark moot, and invited the nation to raise a drink in Faolan's name, in celebration of his name day. Leofric later attended Warcrow and Kindra's wedding, sought the advice of Æthelric regarding his outburst with the Jotun, and sat with the hall as they paid tribute to Faolan, before finally swearing his oath, and formally joining Sigehold. That night, Leofric joined Jana and Faolan's cousin in consuming goosewhisper with the other Kallavesi, and participated in the discussion on who to crown as the champion of the mark, initially supporting Osric, before placing his support behind Mother Thane. Afterwards, Leofric, Jana, and Faolan's cousin drank heartily, and Leofric spoke loudly and often of his criticism of the synod. Shortly before departing Anvil, having made plans, on Æthelric's advice, to follow the imperial army into Sermersuaq, and to protect Æthelric and his fellow grimnir. Leofric was disappointed to learn that the Imperial Army was not yet ready to try to save Sermersuaq, and so Leofric grudgingly followed the guerdon, but sought to reflect on Æthelric's teachings. '''Autumn Equinox - 382 '- Feeling a great void in Faolan's absence, Leofric buried his sorrow by befriending as many people as possible. Leofric spent much of his time in Anvil guiding some first-timers around, and distracting himself with skirmishes. Before facing the Druj in battle, he flexed his talents as a priest, and Anointed a large number of Wintermark warriors with auras of Courage. Unfortunately, Leofric's Courage was insufficient to save many of those warriors from falling in battle, including one of the enthusiastic newcomers that Leofric had befriended. Leofric offered the last of his Liao to a group of priests determined to save their Thane in battle, and managed to retreat from the military disaster, injured but alive, with what remained of Wintermark's fighting forces. Reflecting on the battle, Leofric attributed the failure to a lack of Liao in Wintermark, causing many to enter battle unanointed, and many more to fall to terrifying spiritual effects. Leofric had heard of an 'inferior' type of Liao, made form bonemeal, originating from Axos. After tracking down the ambassador to Axos, Leofric arranged a possible trade. A large stock of Liao in exchange for a sufficient quantity of bonemeal Liao for Leofric to study, in the hope of being able to reproduce it, and solve Wintermark's Liao shortages permanently. After leaving Anvil, Leofric followed Osric and the Green Shields north, to attempt to reclaim Sermersuaq from the Jotun. '''Winter Solistice - 382 Delighted with the success of the Empire's military campaigns in the north, Leofric arrived at Anvil keen to do what he could to maintain that momentum. After helping gather together a small Wintermark warband, Leofric headed to Ossium to assist a Dawnish skirmish against the Druj. After the terrifying but successful skirmish, Leofric spoke to the Kallavesi mystics what they had seen in their collective goosewhisper vision, which Leofric had foregone in favour of the skirmish. Getting coherent reports proved difficult, but Leofric pieced together what he could, and took the information to Mother Thane. Leofric then settled down for a quiet evening of drinking, before being pointed in the direction of the Krampus by Liissa. Leofric confessed his murder of a Jotun warrior earlier that year, and was cursed with mercy for one year - Leofric was to be merciful in all of his actions for the next year, and was rendered unable to kill anybody. The following day, Leofric focused on resting, and offering skein readings to strangers he met. Ultimately, this resulted in Leofric being tasked with seeking out the shaman for a skein reading, and also Leofric being recruited to assist some Highguard Cataphracts in accepting the challenge of the Iron Duke. The challenge ended in the defeat of Leofric and his new companions, but not without each of them earning the respect of the heralds they fought. On the final day of the summit, Leofric joined in the battle against the Jotun, spending much of his time carrying the wounded from both sides of the battle out of danger, and towards physics and ghodi. After the battle, Leofric found the Shaman, and was offered a skein reading. During the readinng, Leofric readily swore an oath to the Shaman to keep his reading secret, an the Shaman swore to keep Leofric's secrets. After leaving the Shaman's tent, Leofric forgot his oath as quickly as he had made it, and excitedly told a handful of friends in the Wintermark camp of the task the shaman had set for him. Mere minutes later, the Shaman found out, and took one of Leofric's eyes as punishment. Freshly maimed, Leofric began the long march North, for another few months of fighting alongside Osric's Green Shield army in Sermersuaq. Spring Equinox - 383 Before heading to Anvil, Leofric headed home to his family farm and picked up Aelfric, his brother. After so many months fighting in the freezing temperatures of Sermersuaq, Leofric took the opportunity to enjoy the company of his brother and his friends. While in Anvil, Leofric put himself forward for the position of Warden of Wintermark, and was chosen by the thanes of the mark. As the newly anointed Warden, Leofric anchored himself to the Wintermark camp during the day, and enjoyed the opportunity to trade, to drink and to shout loudly in other nations about how great Wintermark was. As the summit came to a close, Leofric headed South and boarded a ship headed for Asavea, where he spent the next few months pledged to supporting the slave rebellion. Sadly the efforts of Leofric's military unit and some 18 others were not enough to keep the rebellion alive, as Asavean forces repeatedly broke the rebellion's front lines.